"Pakistan is very schizophrenic, almost bipolar," director Saim Sadiq told AFP in an interview. In 2009, Pakistan legally recognised a third sex, and in 2018 the first transgender passport was issued. Part of the surprise stemmed from the discovery by many at Cannes that Pakistan is one the first nations to have given legal protection against discrimination to transgender people. "Joyland" left Cannes audiences slack-jawed and admiring and got a standing ovation from the opening night's crowd. "Joyland" beat off several other strong entries, including "Close" by Belgian director Lukas Dhont and "Tchaikovsky's Wife" by Kirill Serebrennikov, both hot contenders for the Cannes Festival's top Palme d'Or award which will be announced on Saturday. Past winners of the prize, created in 2010 by critic Franck Finance-Madureira, include Todd Haynes for "Carol" and Xavier Dolan for "Laurence Anyways".
"It makes me sad that the festival is still cold-shouldering the Queer Palm," Corsini said. Not so at Cannes, where the festival's leadership will not even allow the "Queer Palm" - which has been running for a decade - to set up shop in its main building, the Palais du Festival.
The "Queer Palm" has been won by big-name directors in the past and attracted top talent to its juries, but has no official place at the world's top film festival.Īwards for films with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer content are already an integral part of other major movie gatherings, including Berlin which has handed out its "Teddy Award" since 1987, and made it part of its official programme.
"It has strong characters who are both complex and real. "'Joyland' will echo across the world," Corsini said. Corsini herself took the award last year with "La Fracture", which features a lesbian couple's relationship against the backdrop of the "Yellow Vest" movement in France.